Reviving the golf economy
The worst kept secret in golf is not your opponent’s propensity to “forget” certain strokes now and then. It’s the economic condition of the game, and if you don’t believe that just ask your computer to look up “Wisconsin golf courses for sale.”
When I did that my poor MacBook almost started smoking. There were courses galore – nine-holers, 18-hole Ma and Pa operations, prominent courses bearing the names of the game’s biggest designers, even island resort courses “offering numerous development possibilities.”
In other words, if you can’t make it in golf, you could always plow up the land for something else. As for prices, it’s all across the board. One nine-holer (“prime location near casino”) could be had for as little as $450K, while a classic old resort course in Kenosha County would set you back $5.75 million.
So it was the flip side to that story that caught my eye recently. This spring the newly renamed Lake Mills GC will open with new owners, spurred by faith and hope and with fingers crossed that jumping into the golf game in its current state is the smart thing to do.
“This is a little scary,” acknowledged Katye Chwala, who with other family members purchased the 18-hole course and clubhouse in December. But she said the opportunity to venture into golf came along at the right time, family members have enough varied skills to run all facets of the business, the price was favorable and, “First of all, we have faith that the economy is going to be coming back.”
Katye’s husband Randy Chwala, who has been a member at the Lake Mills course “since forever,” will be director of golf, she said, while her step-brother Quin, who has been head chef at a prominent Beloit supper club, will take over the golf course restaurant and position it as a supper club for the larger community. This winter they are working to renovate the clubhouse, including locker rooms, and this spring they will launch a five-year plan aimed at improving golf course conditions. One nine at the course has been nicknamed “The Pasture” by some players, Chwala said, “so that’s one area we will address right away.
“Our first year will definitely be our rebuilding year for golf,” she said. “We’re going to try and hit it hard and address some of the (issues raised) by members.”
Naturally, the family did extensive analysis on the golf economy before agreeing to buy a course, including looking at the number of courses for sale or that were even being closed for lack of buyers or business. “And that’s intimidating,” Chwala said.
But the family’s goal is to provide a good golf experience for a middle class membership, she said, “and that supper club thing will be a draw. We think that will be another way we can (step it up).”
Their faith in the economy’s improved prospects is apparently shared by others who want to get into the golf business. Frank Jermusek, a broker with Northco Golf and Hospitality, a Minneapolis company that specializes in marketing golf courses and resorts, said after a very poor market from 2008 into mid-2011, there has recently been “a great deal of interest” in the more than 100 properties his firm is offering through the upper Midwest.
“The industry, even before the downturn in the (stock) market, was kind of struggling a bit,” he said, and golf and other hospitality were the first expenses cut by struggling families. But in the last six months, he said, many would-be sellers have become more realistic about asking prices, the economy has shown new signs of life “and we’re definitely seeing a lot more activity in the last couple of months.”
Financing is still a major problem and most sales are for cash, he said, but “the buying pool is all across the board,” from families interested in a business they can run together to deep-pocketed buyers with other interests. One sale in the Twin Cities last year – “I almost fell off my chair when it happened,” Jermusek said – was to a labor union for plumbers and pipe fitters. Their reasoning included the fact that if golf didn’t work out, the price was low for land that could eventually be developed.
So good luck to the Chwala family and their fellow new owners. The game needs all the good news it can get these days, and faith in its future qualifies as that.
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Dennis McCann is a former reporter and columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a longtime contributor to Wisconsin Golfer magazine. When he isn't playing golf he writes books; his latest is “Badger Boneyards: The Eternal Rest of the Story.” Contact him at 
